


Practice Makes Perfect

by TheyDraggedMeInNowIAintLeaving



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A happy little thing, Cas joins the army, From kids to adults, M/M, Swearing (hence the rating), This is all sweet and innocent, This is not a focus point, and should probably not have as high a rating as it got
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 23:32:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3429533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheyDraggedMeInNowIAintLeaving/pseuds/TheyDraggedMeInNowIAintLeaving
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean is four when the new neighbours move in. And twenty six when his brother marries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practice Makes Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Now, if I actually owned Dean and Cas, do you think I'd be doing this? Heck no! This is for entertainment purposes only, no harm intended.  
> All rights belong to their rightful owners.

Dean is four when the new neighbours move in. Not that Dean notices, after all he’s busy trying to figure out how to sneak out Sammy so he can keep an eye on his little brother while he plays. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Mom with him, Dean just knows he’d be better. His plan fails epically seeing as he’s neither very subtle nor all that quiet, and Mom is Very Angry With Him, so Dean spends the better part of the next week being on his best behavior, so she will let him be alone with Sammy again.

But it’s summer and being inside soon becomes old news, so before long he’s out in the garden playing, and he’s so preoccupied with his own imagination that he doesn’t notice the dark haired boy staring at him over the hedge separating the gardens before he trips and almost falls into him. Dean’s a little startled when he looks up at the boy, who seems to be both a little older than him but also staring intensely at him, but he recovers quickly and flashes the boy a huge grin and remembering his manners he says,

“Dean. Wanna play?”

The boy tilts his head as if he doesn’t quite understand before he throws a quick glance over his shoulder and nods silently and walks through the hole in the hedge. The boy doesn’t say a word all afternoon, but it doesn’t matter because Dean talks enough for the both of them, and every time Dean suggests something the boy disagrees on, he’ll frown a little and Dean shrugs and promptly discards the offending idea.

It’s more than a week before Dean finally learn his new friend’s name. It’s long, weird and _very_ difficult to pronounce, but he makes an effort anyway. He can tell that he doesn’t quite get it, what kind of name is _Castiel_ anyway, by the way the boy’s face lights up in a small smile, which Dean returns with one of his own before declaring,

”Imma call you Cas.”

***

Dean is six when he kisses Castiel. His right arm is broken and Dean can tell by the look on his face that he’s in pain, so he decides against the hug he initially wanted to give Cas and instead kisses his friend’s cheek. It’s clear that Cas is surprised by the action, but he doesn’t seem to mind and simply gives Dean one of those almost there smiles he does. Cas’s Father however is a whole other story. The man is clearly angry and grips Dean by the arm and drags him out of Cas’s room and shoves him out the door, yelling at him to stay away from their house. Dean doesn’t see Cas again until his arm has healed and he’s out of the cast. They never speak of the incident again because it upsets Cas and Dean’s more concerned of convincing his friend on being Robin to his Batman than talk about what happened the day he was kicked out of Cas’s house, and in time it fades from his conscious memory.

***

When he’s twelve Dean starts to notice girls. Sure, he’s known they’ve been there his entire life, but he’s been avoiding them like the plague ever since he learned of the dangerous ‘girl germs’ that were rumored to lead to certain death, but now he’s not entirely sure that’s the case. Dean spends a long time wondering about this new state of things, before he finally does what he always does: Ask Cas.

Which is why one day they’re lounging in the Winchester living room, Dean with his math homework and Cas with an English essay, he blurts out:

“What are girls for?”

Cas just looks at him, wide eyed and clearly caught off guard by Dean’s sudden question, and he can feel his face go beet red in an instant, before he stutters,

“I mean.. you know... eum.. right?”

At this Cas does his usual head tilt and sends Dean an almost there smile, before simply replying:

”You’ll have to find out for yourself.

And Dean’s a little disappointed that his _best_ friend won’t tell him, and something must show on his face, cause Cas hurriedly explains,

”Nobody can answer that for you Dean, it’s something you have to figure out on your own. And when you do, I’d like to hear what you found out.”

And the thing is, had Dean gotten that kind of answer from anybody else he would’ve felt patronized or belittled, but from Cas it’s sound advice, so he simply nods, a silent promise to tell Cas when he’s figured it out, and returns to the math book at hand. They spend the rest of the afternoon in companionable silence and when Cas leaves Dean hugs him as a way of saying ‘thank you’.

***

At the age of fifteen Dean gets broken up with by Cassie Robinson, and as always it is Cas’s shoulder he turns to for support. Cas is, as always, busy with his school work, after all he has his academic future set in stone and has to keep up a certain grade level if he wants in at a university of his own choosing (which means scholarships) rather than his Father’s. But, as always too, he lets books be books and devote his entire focus to Dean, who rants and paces and swears and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, so Cas is reduced to making sympathetic noises and nodding when Dean looks pointedly at him to emphasize some point.

”And then she said,” and Dean almost looks angry at this point, “that Mike’s a much better kisser than me.

And the look of complete outrageousness makes Cas stand up and cup Dean’s face, leaning in close, his eyes all smiles and fondness, before he shakes his head and says:

”Take it from someone who knows, Dean. Mike’s an _awful_ kisser.”

And that, right there, answers so many questions people have always asked about Castiel, like ‘how’s the guy capable of maintaining eye contact with Dolly’, or ‘who’s that girl he’s dating’ - that particular question had been easy to answer, seeing as Anna is Cas’s cousin, but Dean hadn’t divulged that particular information to the curious girl who had asked - and just like that Cas told his best friend that he’s gay and said friend simply shrugs before pushing playfully at Cas’s shoulder saying,

”Dude, of _course_ Mike’s not better than me. I’m Dean fucking Winchester, remember?”

And if Cas was nervous with his little slip up, nobody and especially not Dean needs to know, ever. So he just smiles at his friend and knowing that Dean’s already moved on from Cassie Robinson he returns to his chair, and the book he’s supposed to read.

***

For some reason Cas decides to join the army when he turns eighteen right after graduation. To say Dean’s surprised is like calling a hurricane a light breeze, and for the first time in a decade they actually fight. Dean, stubborn ass that he is, refuses to seek out his friend to at least say goodbye, and since Cas is just as stubborn, and occasionally an ass too, he only says goodbye to Sam before he leaves. And if either Cas or Dean are sad or maybe cry a little, Sam’s never been the one to share secrets.

Soon Dean forgets why he was so mad at Cas and he simply starts to miss him. Thankfully Cas’s not one to hold a grudge and at some point he starts sending Dean letters. Nothing huge, just little snippets of his new life, the people he meet and the things he do. Dean holds on to these letters as if his life depends on it, and at some point he even begins to write back. Like always he tells Cas everything that happens to him, every thought, ups and downs sometimes even just that he had pie. He writes about prom, how he went with Lisa Braeden who looked stunning, and now he _finally_ has an answer as to what girls are for. He writes when he gets an acceptance letter from a university, and when he and Lisa breaks off a few weeks into the first semester. He never sends a single one of them, but he keeps them with the ones Cas sends, as if it’s an actual conversation.

For some reason, and definitely much to his own surprise, he enjoys it. Sure, he’s a little home sick, and there’s not as much freedom as before, but studying appears to be fun. For whatever reason Sammy decides to join the same university as Dean, so they decide on renting a place together off campus. They spend the summer hunting for one, and by the end of August their names are on a lease and they have somehow ended up with a rather large, but shockingly cheap, apartment, aside from missing Cas, Dean’s life is almost perfect.

***

The Christmas before Dean turns twenty both he and Sam are home, enjoying being fussed over by their mother, but Dean can’t help constantly looking out the window at the house next door, in the hope of actually, for the first time in almost four years, seeing Cas. He hasn’t voiced the thought, but if he was being completely honest having Cas home for good is the only thing he wants this year. He’d gotten a letter that told him Cas was finally coming home, and had been accepted into a university. He hadn’t told Dean which, and Dean had been afraid to even ask in a letter he would never send. He has a feeling Sammy knows, though. But Sammy doesn’t tell other people secrets, not even when ‘other people’ are Cas. So even though Dean’s happy to be home with his parents, Sammy, uncle Bobby and aunt Ellen, there’s a dull ache in his chest that is Cas missing.

They drive back in companionable silence, but half way between their old and their new home, Sam suddenly says,

”we need money.”

And it’s a testament to Dean’s incredible driver’s skills that he doesn’t even swerve at this. He thought everything was fine. Sammy’s got some fancy scholarship that paid for school and books, and they both have jobs, Sammy in some coffee shop Dean would not be caught dead and Dean himself at a mechanic - after all, academia may be nice but he does enjoy getting his hands dirty , too. So he throws a quick glance at his brother, before he clears his throat and replies:

”oooookay. I suppose I can get more hours at the garage, or maybe find another job.” He takes a deep breath, before he continues, “or I can start working full time. No big.”

He can _feel_ Sammy’s head shake, and he just knows that he’s on the receiving end of a bitch face, before Sam calmly states:

”No need to go to such extremes. We’re only short by a little, and I already know how to cover that, and even make a few extra bucks in the process.

Dean makes a noise that roughly translates to ‘you got my full attention, now speak before I kick your ass’, and Sammy simply declares that a: they need a (paying) roommate and b: he already has the perfect candidate, whom they will both be meeting tomorrow. Obviously Dean gets veto rights, but they both know that if Sammy says the guy’s all right then he’ll be moving in tomorrow. The rest of the drive passes as uneventful as the first part, and not long after they’re back at their apartment before both brothers are passed out from the long, cheerful holiday and the drive home.

When he wakes up, Dean decides that it’s a pan cake morning, so he gets dressed and goes for the relatively short run to the store to get eggs and syrup and whatever else he decides he can’t live without today. Sammy wakes up just before all the batter has been made into golden, perfectly shaped pancakes, and not even the bell half way through the breakfast can bursts his happy bubble. Sam goes to answer the door, while Dean debates whether to put jam, syrup or just sugar on his next pancake, when he hears a deep, gravelly voice that has him standing and almost running for the door without any conscious thought on Dean’s part. And there he is, his best friend, who still looks like the pale, dark haired, skinny boy Dean last saw when he was sixteen, though there’s a lot more muscle to him now, his shoulders broader, but he looks at Dean with fondness and that almost there smile that he has always reserved for Dean (he’s also the only one who can apparently tell Cas’s smiles apart, but whatever), and in an instant Dean is hugging him tight never wanting to let go, chanting an endless stream of ‘sorry, I’m so sorry’ in Cas’s ear, and Cas in reciprocation hugs back just as fiercely, and for however long they stand there neither knows, but when they finally pulls apart and returns to the kitchen, Sam has eaten all the pancakes, and simply sends the two men a shit eating grin, indicating he’s very pleased with himself.

***

Dean is twenty six when he attends his brother’s wedding. The ceremony was breathtaking and, though he will deny it until the day he dies, seeing Sammy and Ruby agreeing to spend the rest of their lives together had made him want to both laugh - honestly, the girl’s only half Sam’s size, but she’s got spark and he likes her at least as much as Sammy does - and cry just like his mother - after all, Sammy’s all grown up and Dean won’t be there to look after him all the time anymore. The dinner was great, if for no other reason then because when everybody else got their fancy ass parfaits or whatever Dean was given a variety of pies, Dean actually has the most awesome brother in the history of brothers. And now here he is, watching his brother waltz away with Ruby, and he can’t help the sigh that escapes him, he’s going to miss living in the same space as those two, when a hand suddenly slides into his, and Castiel’s head comes to a rest on his shoulder. Dean turns his head a little to look down at him, Cas’s eyes are closed and he seems tired but happy, and Dean’s heart skips a beat that Cas must somehow sense, because his lips curls in a smile and that’s all Dean needs to cup Cas’s face before he leans in for a the first proper kiss of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic Cas is two years older than Dean, who's two years older than Sam. So, at the beginning Cas is 6, Dean's 4 and Sam's 2.  
> Dean graduates from high shool in the summer the same year he turns eighteen and then he starts at the university in september (or august). Sam joins the year after because he's wicked smart and skipped a class somewhere.
> 
> Criticism is most welcome


End file.
